Point of diminish in power plant reached?

Remember back in the 90s where the game SimCity was a hit? Nearly every friend I knew played or heard this game. From there the objective of the game is to flourish your kampung into a pekan, then into bandar and then city or metropolitan. Simple as that. However to achieve that, one need to roll out the proper street, designate the proper zone and the main thing is to build the right power plant for your people. That was how I perceive power plant technology in my early days of life, and had been following that concept ever since.

There was always

• coal, the dirtiest SOB piece of crap in the game where it automatically brings your pollution to level 3, followed by
  
• natural gas (environment ok but expensive),
  
• hydro (great if you have a Niagara fall near your city),
• solar (high maintenance),
  
• wind turbines (need alot and low output kW),
  
• Nuclear (risk radiation, high output kW),
  
• Microwave and
  
• Fusion power plant

Currently I would say we're around the Nuclear region as the developed country had them and there are no 'more advanced' power plant around that I knew of.

However, latest news from US shows they are back to explore clean coal, Europe is also into coal, and of course Russia also likes coal now as there is no demand on their nuclear waste (e.g. Plutonium). So technically we're going back to coal, and this made the PC game Simcity, the board game Power Grid, and even many sci-fi movie obsolete.

Well that's a start, as gas and oil is reaching a record high price (USD118 per barrel as of now), all fossil power plant project had been switched to the coal, rather than oil or gas. So basically environment will get screwed anyway. I don't know the footprint involved but I can bet for every 10 person who strictly adhere to greenpeace advise, just 1 person who is poor and drive a 1985 Toyota Crown diesel will just offset the pollution made. Imagine what 5 coal plant will do.

I am not a green person, just wondering why the fuss on the Earth day, global warming and greenpeace are all about. The effort is being screwed by politician and government in just a few implementation, and someone need to fix the concept of technology on power plant.

TiBuN - 1 Kitten - 0

My working place got a bitch cat, who pops out a couple of kitten few months back, now the kittens are quite grown up, but not as grown as you'd think coz I saw them sucking their mum's nipple still...
Anyway yesterday saw that there was this cat sleeping on top of my sunroof, my evil conscious manage to convince me to remove that blissful creature from my car and that's what I did, I shoo the cat out from the top of my car. It did take quite a few attempt as the creature was apparently not used to human threat.

So was back to the canteen in a jiffy and continued my terrific company dinner. 15 minutes later, I had packed my stuff and begin to drive my car out towards the guard house, halfway there, there was a sudden thud on my rear left tyre, and a glance at the side mirror saw a kitten zooming pass, a further check on the rear view mirror saw a cat dancing macarena and kapuera high in the air.

Feeling guilty for what I did, I was thinking of reducing its pain by reversing and settle the break dance once and for all, but I didn't... maybe I don't have the guts or the will to really do it. Any how after the security clearance check I continued driving with something else already on my head.

Fast forward to this morning, a colleague claimed she saw the incident and brand me cruel... and it hit me, why am I cruel? I did nothing wrong as I was driving under the speed limit and was very awake, apparently the cat came from my right and run under my car in between the front and rear wheel, there is no way I was able to see it coming as a courteous driver always put his eyes on the front, 2 of the cats made it through (racing across my car) while this poor kitten didn't. I guess this is nature's selection at work and the weak was removed from the world (apparently the cat failed to judge speed and distance, and are bad in sprinting)

Today when I go back, I saw the mum and her remaining kitten, sitting in the middle of the road there blissfully enjoying sunset. When I walk passed the bitch somemore meow at me friendlily, I don't think she even know I killed her children yesterday.

Nature had a funny way of controlling population, just create failure and they will fail itself eventually. Human on the other hand are more resistant to death, the incapable ones will have additional benefit, wider protection coverage and life made easier than normal...etc. So its basically human defy nature, and sooner or later they will pay. Lets just hope its not my generation who suffer the effect

Aftermath of GE 2008 - more suxor crap

Fast forward 2 weeks after the general election results were out, the political scene here looks as vain as before. As I have expected the ruling party will try to buy out the loose opposition across the country as it only requires a little effort to achieve a 2/3 majority, however it ended up with the opposing way with them having to watch their own rank, this is sort of like defensive play in football, you can hardly win if you're not attacking the opponent. Really no logic

And the statement given by the ruler to press lately also surprisingly astonishing, like for example recently a member of the ruling party ask us to practice tender system for any future project. WTF man, for nearly 50 years and this still hasn't been a SOP for government? Maybe everyone turn an eye all this while but I remember when our PM held position 4 years back, he was actively combating corruption... and this slips? Alot of people are too naive that this is happening, alot more people are useless as they let it happen. This really makes one ponder the competency of our governing people. In a typical company this would surely mean a total overhaul and a revamp of organization, I guess in politic this will not be the case... immunity sure rox sometimes

Then there's the message by our ruling party to remind the minister to stay away from corruption.... its like your teacher remind you not to cheat during exam, so obvious punya case.... and worse is there are people acknowledging and praising the reminder.
Surely a normal responds from any sane person would be "duh!".... So this is Malaysia for you

The opposition didn't fare much better either IMHO, they squabble over seats publicly, party directive not conveyed effectively and lack of a central figure to coordinate the loose coalition. At this point a chief coordinator would seem appropriate, but then again this is not a company and it doesn't work this way.

Looks like politic is a funny thing, the lies surrounding the event can be very unhealthy and with all my reference coming from government controlled media, one must really doubt the side its on. No matter, politic can only cause traffic jams anyway, now I'm more worry that the economy will go into a recession (if ever), then inflation will come and who is going to pay for my gas?

Feedback of Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops [PSP]

Everyone that experienced playstation already know who is Snake, the iconic hero behind the console game Metal Gear Solid...

MGS:PO take place after MGS:Snake Eater, where Snake had beaten "The Boss" in a beautiful meadow field, and the plot takes further into the conspiracy and treachery of the government in changing the world power with the philosopher story still actively in play

All the Metal Gear series are famed for the animated cutscene which could stretch as long as 20 minutes in certain episode, Portable Ops also have its moment even though the cutscene are told in a comic book like sequence.


Not only are the approach to the cut scene is different, there is also a new game feature which allows Snake to 'recruit' enemy into his team by 'persuasion'... the added team mates will in return contribute by developing new weapon, medical items, perform reconnaissance and assist Snake in mission. This added up to a lot more micro-managing into the game which let players do a lot more strategy.

The weapon will still be based on post world war 2 era, with the standard M16, AK47, Dragunov sniper rifle being the arsenal of Snake and his allies and the game location is in Cuba. Though the map are all mostly the same with buildings and some wilderness. Typical tropical country mode.

Nearly every Metal Gear game had a chick involve, this game its Elisa, the sweet looking psychic girl who have dual personality ESP, too bad she has to.... Well anyway, she's underage .....

So back to the main plot, Portable Ops pave way and extend the story after Substance and Snake Eater, and provide the prologue for the up and coming PS3 hits, MGS: Sons of patriot. This is also one of the game that could put emotional players in tear as the plot reveal slowly and the amount of death in the game seem justified with the cause it tries to achieve. I think I am beginning to fall in love with MGS...

Good: Great storyline, able to put player involve in the game for many hours, good sound effect, staying true to the name, good enough cutscene and control is still good even ported the traditional control from Playstation 2

Bad: If only the cutscene is longer, I don't feel enough :)

Tagged by Sue

Instructions:Remove 1 question from below, and add in your personal question, make it a total of 20 questions, then tag 8 people in your list, list them out at the end of this post. Notify them in their chat box that he/she has been tagged.

1. At what age do you wish to marry?
In my early 30s, assuming at current growth rate

2. If you were to be stranded on a desert island, who are the 3 blog buddies you would take with you? Why?
I don't have much blog buddies, but from those blogs that I read..
a) Alvin Ong- Need a reality check & resourceful guy to make me survive the ordeal
b) Jeff Ooi - Need a guy who could shoot me into politic should we be rescued
c) Dawn Yang - Just came across her blog and would fill up my free time in the island, hehe

3. Where is the place that you want to go the most?
Holland (I want to smoke pot freely)

4.If you can have 1 dream to come true, what would it be?
Alien came to visit Earth

5. Do you believe you can survive without money?
Yup, if I am stucked in an island for example

6. What are you afraid to lose the most?
My sanity

7. If you win $1 million, what would you do?
Invest $500,000 into medium risk investment, $150,000 for car, and $300,000 for a new house. The remaining $50k for family

8. If you meet someone that you love, would you confess to him/her?
Of course

9. List out 3 good points of the person who tagged you.
a) Genuine
b) Smart
c) Friendly

10. What are the requirements that you wish from your other half?
- Must be able to communicate without implementing filters
- Good IQ
- Able to enter kitchen and come out to the living room (入得厨房,出得厅堂)
- Fresh grad with zero to minimal experience is preferred

11. Which type of person do you hate the most?
Lier type

12. If you are given the chance to go back to the past and make a difference, will you?
Of course! So many things I did in the past that could better

13. What is the thing that will make you think someone is bad?
Double face, for there are hidden agenda and makes people doubt, doubt is bad

14. What do you think is the most important thing in your life?
Family, else why would I part so much of my income to them

15. Are you a shopaholic or not?
Yes. I can really buy and I'm amaze of myself sometimes

16. If you have a chance, which part of your character you would like to change?
My experimenting method, it has killed alot of 'subject' :)

17. Who is the person that you can share all your problems with?
Nearly everyone, I think I'm kinda open (my boss and my friends for example)

18. What's the thing that you're most proud of?
No big deal out of me so far, so I think its the fact that I'm alive for the past 26 years

19. Rainy day or sunny day?
I like the smell of rain

20. Biggest spending per receipt in your life (loan not included)
My HD-EG engine conversion - RM3400 inclusive of workmanship

I am going to tag :
Alvino

No other blogger buddy to mention...

Feedback of Warhammer 40K: squad command [PSP]

My first PSP completed game is this. Warhammer40k: Squad command by THQ. This story revolves around the Ultra marine which have to fight against ridiculously large number of Chaos marine for a series of gradual increasing difficulty mission.

For those who are familiar with Warhammer 40k world, the universe is made up of a couple of factions of clan like the ultramarine human, the corrupted chaos marine, the alien type genestealer, the alien+human Tao faction which has some kickass spell... and many more. This game only talk about the conflict between ultramarine and chaos marine, one is trying to get rid of the tainted stain and unholyness of the other

The game pits your normally 6 person team against a 20 - 30 opponent battle in a turn based strategy game. It has a bit of customizable factor as you are allowed to select different secondary weapon to each member of the team but due to the nature of the game (outnumbered in nearly every case), a decisive weapon is always preferred by me(e.g. One that uses more action point but deal more damage) ). And to make it better, you can save at any point of the game, making achieving perfect health possible. So this can be a 'feel good' game for the perfectionist, if you have the patience.

Its always nice to fire a rocket launcher into a mass of enemy, seeing the amount of destruction to both the environment and the pathetic marines, or walk up and chainsword or powerpunch your enemy to oblivion. After every mission, there is a short video clip to show the progress and the impact of the mission, and you will realize slowly the dark plot of the chaos marine. Overall its a short game even if you play the perfectionist route.

Gamespot gave it a 6.5 but I think its kind a harsh number. It would be more like 7.5 to 8.0 due to its nice graphic and OK plot. But seriously the enemy can be made a lot less and a lot tougher.

Good: Feel good game, good graphic

Bad: Strategy can be made better, story line not grand for a Warhammer 40K class

Election 2008 is over

This is the first time I am voting for the general elections and the spirit of election really exist in all walks of life, during work... its from breakfast, lunch till dinner all the talk and chat is about politics and society, after work hour and free time its ceramah or youtube for speeches. This is the first time I experience so many bullshit given to the people via promises and set goals, why bullshit? Coz if its true, then we will be worrying about how to handle the foreign investment bleeding that we're seeing and maybe get claims on the Spartly Island :P Instead.

Anyway the opposition this time had taken Kedah, Penang, Perak and Selangor, while maintaining the hold on Kelantan.
While the remaining 8 states are still in the hands of main party BN. Apparently the lose of confidence on the national party is obvious with the coalition forces seeing the biggest defeat:
- The coalition forces: Gerakan, MCA and MIC had lost majority of their contesting seats and this should 'disconnect' the government from controlling the voices of the ethnic races. But I reckon it won't be long before they started to buy some of them over, time will tell.

With the opposition winning, there are alot of rumors on roadblock, illegal sms and imaginary riots on sms. Typical psychological effect to instill on the public, and partly also the Chinese mentality of fear on stability. Don't think that will stop... the most important is dare to change and stop being the puppet for the government, I think this election achieved that effect in some of the state.

So now our "master Chief" ministry no more Tan Sri Koh, prolly will be held by Lim Guan Eng.

All hail the chief!

Anyway with the changes in the Northern Peninsula, lets hope it will really bring changes and less corruption and more development for the next few years.... and those newbie politician can really make a difference by being brave for the people.

Edited: I think I'm still living in the past

Late Chinese New Year blog

It has been 16 days since Chinese New Year is over, was so busy that's y did not blog early. So anyway, this year's CNY theme was Port Dickson, but seriously the best is Malacca and KL, PD sux because there is basically nothing worth mentioning...

The total stay were:

KL - 3 nites

Malacca - 2 nites

PD - 1 days

Our reunion dinner was in KL with satay, rendang, pulut and those miscelleneous (those stuff you can get when traveling northbound - Kajang). Most of the time were went for shopping and playing board games at my cousin's house, a big amount of time were also used to experiment the PSP games between Kevin's and mine, this is also when I discovered the wonder of game sharing feature...

Traveled to PD on 8th Feb and there was a big jam on the way entering PD town, silly people traveling to PD during peak season, stupid fools. Stayed in a christian hostel. Condition is OK and comfy, with air cond and water heater :) But personally there is no point in Port Dickson, the sea sux, the air sux, there is a dark water drainage flowing right into the sea and the worst part is RIGHT at the end of the flow, there are people swimming and playing in the sea... unless earth suffered a worldwide nuclear holocaust, I would not dip any part of my body into that sea. So anyway, PD is a no no (food there is expensive also)

Next is Malacca - the 2nd food heaven on 9th Feb (after Penang of course). The moment we reached there it was mee rebus. It was not as tasty as last time (a year ago), but still acceptable compare to the many ones in Penang.

At night it was satay celup at "Ban Lee Xiang", either alot people were craving for it the other night, or there has been a lack of supply in providing food in Malacca town as there is a huge influx of patrons wanting to eat and waiting outside the restaurant. Food is ok here, the sauce is still thick and crunchy and have alot of substance when biting, the variety is also alot, suppose to be much more than "Capitol" - another famous satay celup store in downtown Malacca

The next day we went to have dim sum somewhere in a place call Gajah Berang, as usual its full house (at this kind of period any decent shop also will be full house), so its expected anyway. For me, the most important characteristic of dim sum is it has to be moderately oily, and this place passed the oil test. Unlike Ipoh dim sum which is focusing more on the packaging and inner stuff, this is more for practicality and easier on the wallet.

The same day we end the food odessey with the standard staple of popiah, fried oyster, fish ball and chilli wan tan mee.

Basically this trip we missed out the cendol, chicken rice, tau gua, mi hun kuey, carrot cake and many more.... maybe next trip :(

After Malacca we went to KL for stay again for another night, then back to Penang on 12th Feb.

Total damage for this reunion - Minimum

Biggest regret for this trip - Did not buy the SONY EX earphone at Mahkota Parade for RM40 (was found at Mid Valley to be RM100), followed by not buying the Senheissen earphone at Mid Valley for RM38 (was found the original price is RM99)

Physical damage - leg pain for prolonged driving in cramp environment (maybe I should put a resolution next year to buy a MPV like the Toyota Cardinal for the family...)